Re: Pinning vs. conflicting

[Nikolaus Rath <Nikolaus@rath.org>]

Juliusz Chroboczek <jch@pps.univ-paris-diderot.fr> writes:
>> You have not yet explained why apt pinning is not enough.
>
> I'd appreciate an explanation too.  I've inserted in my apt/preferences
> file the incantation given by Vitali F. (to whom thanks) at the very
> beginning of this thread, and it appears to have the requested effect.
>
> I've looked through the whole thread, and I can see the following reasons:
>
>  - conflicting packages are honoured by dpkg, unlike pinning;
>  - a package can conflict with multiple packages, while you need
>    multiple pinning entries;

You have to drop one file (you may even call it the same name that you'd use
for the conflicting package) into /etc/apt/preferences.d/. That file can
pin as many packages as you want.

>  - there's a number of user-friendly frontends to apt, while pinning
>    requires using a text editor (the horror!).

Anyone who knows about (let alone is interested in) a package
conflicting with systemd is most certainly able to drop a file into a
directory.

Now someone will probably suggest to create a package that doesn't
conflict with anything but instead installs
/etc/apt/preferences.d/no-systemd.conf....


Best,
-Nikolaus

-- 
GPG encrypted emails preferred. Key id: 0xD113FCAC3C4E599F
Fingerprint: ED31 791B 2C5C 1613 AF38 8B8A D113 FCAC 3C4E 599F

             »Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a Banana.«